Looking back and ahead – A Perspective

Submitted by

Michael Spicer

One of my earliest memories is at 5 years old, riding 38 miles to my grandparent’s house on a Greyhound bus. My parents would put me on the bus, right up front where I could watch the driver, shifting gears, making big turns, and braking at stop lights as he navigated his way through the city and out of town. My grandmother was always waiting for me upon arrival at the small town hardware store where the bus stopped for a brief few minutes to exchange riders and packages. I made this trip many times and have the fondest memories of those times, and of the chocolate pie my grandmother always made that morning before my arrival, just for me.

As we drove along in the bus, I also remember looking at all of the scenery passing by with the wide eyes and the curiosity of my youth. At places along the road on this journey I would occasionally see political posters that had been posted every so often that had my father’s name and photo, left over from his unsuccessful run for US Congress in 1956. How some of his supporters got those posters distributed so widely I’ll never know, but I remember seeing them erode away over time because nobody seemed willing to go back to remove them after the election. But I guess at my age I always thought it was kind of neat to see them and I would always look for them until they just wore out.

To make a long story not too long, I was raised in a family that believed in public service as a responsibility of citizenship. As I matured over the years I learned that some people volunteered for public service for the benefit of their community on one end of the spectrum and others made richly rewarding lifetime political careers for themselves in the name of public service at the other end of the spectrum. As for myself, I worked outside the public sector for most of my life, except for my time in service in the US Navy at the end of the Viet Nam era, and for one term on our local airport advisory board. But the call for public service has always been with me.

As for my life here in Fernandina Beach, my wife and I moved here and built a home 8 years ago. We truly love it here, and having lived several other places in our lives, we have a perspective that lets us look at this community through our filter and compare it to other places we have lived and traveled to around the world.

I know that 8 years of residency here doesn’t count for much in some people’s minds whose families have lived here for generations and I understand that, but hey, all of us had roots from somewhere previously, and all of us will be going somewhere else eventually, if you know what I mean.

The important part for me is to try to make the most of what we have today because we only get to make this trip once. And what we do, or don’t do, will have a lasting impact for us and our children’s future.

Well wouldn’t you know that this past week, after 8 years of enjoying and learning about our Fernandina, and thinking about new ways that I might try to contribute some of my life’s experience and desire for public service in our community, I set out on a mission to explore the possibility of running for one of the two city commissioner seats in the election this fall. I can honestly tell you that I have no partisan agenda, no grand idea of how to change the world, no big developer connections that will finance my campaign to then plow through new zoning ordinances that benefit big business, no magic fixes for the financial problems we are facing, no special formula for maintaining city services at the level we all enjoy and expect from the city without raising taxes or cutting services, and no long term experience here to know where all of the political skeletons are buried. And believe me, I’ve learned that the political winds can blow fiercely and I’m not yet even a candidate!

Okay, after reading the previous paragraph, an astute reader without too much political insight might deduce that if a candidate doesn’t know the answers to the issues of a campaign then they have no business running for one of the most important political offices locally. Actually, the strength of any candidate isn’t just in what or who they may know or simply voting the party line regarding issues. Being open minded and able to listen to the needs and ideas of other people, possessing critical thinking skills and the ability to analyze data, and then be able to work with others to incorporate that knowledge that leads to creative solutions are perhaps the greatest skills of a representative who truly works for the interests of all the citizens of the community.

Actually, Fernandina Beach has a very interesting political history. Perhaps colorful is the better and more kindly word for describing the political climate here. Whether this has anything to do with why less than 25% of registered voters turn out for elections I’m not sure. What I do know is that the political climate here is highly charged and partisan. So much so that it weighs heavily on my decision on whether I should run for office at this time. And I suspect it also explains why other residents who have all kinds of wonderful abilities and experience might choose to not run for office here, although God knows we could surely benefit from their experience, especially now.

Has politics become just another spectator sport, just a little less interesting than Dancing with the Stars? I believe if citizens were more engaged in the process of selecting our leaders rather than leaving it up to partisan parties that support lukewarm candidates for the 25% of actual voters to choose from, we’d be a better city and a better nation for that matter. Actually, humorists like Will Rogers and Mark Twain had the insanity of American politics figured out in their times, and it hasn’t gotten better since then.

This week I had meetings with several individuals I highly respect who know me and know this community probably better than anyone and I asked for their advice and opinions about my possible candidacy. Happily, everyone truly encouraged me to run and offered me their support if I should decide to run for which I am grateful in so many ways. I couldn’t have been honored more than to have their support for such an undertaking. I should also add that none of these individuals sugar coated the undertaking in any way and, in fact, shot straight and told me to make this decision with conviction and the knowledge of what I would be getting myself and my family in to. And though I knew this going into the process, the prospects for taking on the current political machine here would be formidable.

The more I thought about it the more I wondered what I hoped to accomplish in 3 years if elected. I had high ideals about wanting to try to bring the community together. Our community is divided in many ways, and yet we are one city. When government couldn’t deliver the needed funds for fireworks this year because of budget constraints, the community came together to make it happen. This is an example of the ways I would love to see the city head in terms of involving citizens in the decisions that are important to them and not expect government to do everything all the time which I believe we have become overly dependant upon, especially when raising taxes to pay for services is so unpopular.

I also would like to foster more public/private participation in accomplishing goals that benefit future opportunities for our city and for our children who currently have few prospects for living and working here after graduating from school. Public/private partnerships can also lessen the burden on taxpayers while expanding the opportunities for government to accomplish projects within the scope of the city’s vision statement while preserving core services that we depend upon the city to deliver.

I don’t like taxes more than anyone. But when I look at my annual local tax bill and then look at what the city’s portion of that tax bill is, I’m amazed at the level of services I receive for what it costs me. Aside from what the rhetoric is, we live in a relatively low tax environment if we look at what the city charges on our tax statement when compared to the schools and county portions of the bill over which the city has no control. Am I saying I want higher taxes? No. Am I saying that I appreciate the services I receive as a resident of the city for what I’m currently paying? Yes. I choose to live in a community with great services, roads, protection, and staff to keep it all functioning which necessarily has shared expenses. As an alternative, a remote cabin in the woods has no shared community expenses.

Last year my insurance costs for health, home and auto increased, as did my utility bills and grocery expenses. These increases are not easy for some retired folks on fixed incomes and even harder for those who are unemployed. These are tough times and we are all feeling it in some way, some more so than others. The effects of the recession also impact city finances and income, especially from the effects of lower property values and sales tax receipts. Many of the city expenses are inflexible such as pension contributions and debt service, and of course we can’t print money as our way out of this situation like Uncle Sam can. I may be in a minority in saying this, but unfortunately I believe the worst of this recession is yet to come, and I hope I am wrong. For this reason alone I think we deserve to have representatives who have the appropriate experience and people skills to rationally communicate and debate the ideas brought to the table for us to hear as they vote upon them.

As a community we need to stand together. We did in a small way for the recent fireworks celebration funding issue. I know we also would if a major event such as a hurricane were to lay havoc here. Neighbors would be helping devastated neighbors, other folks helping each other who’ve never met each other, giving of ourselves to those truly in need for survival because for most of us, I believe, that is who we are as a community. In such times, walls come down, partisanship abates, and we leave our egos checked at the door as we come together to rebuild community (kinship) after a disaster. Unfortunately, without a disaster I’m afraid we succumb to business as usual, a disaster waiting to happen.

Our failing as a community will come not from a natural disaster or in the politics of getting elected, but in partisanship after the elections are over when coming together is needed most. The party of NO in the absence of putting forward alternative plans to be discussed for solving our problems will be the most damaging of all for our future. Without making recurring investments in our community, and encouraging sustainable growth from the business community and tourism industry, the majority cost of local government will be born by that person you see every day when you look in the mirror. And he/she won’t be smiling then either. If we and our children have no opportunities for work here, and new businesses are discouraged, and tourism drops off for a variety of reasons, then our increasingly retired population will have an ever-increasing dependence on local government for services with a shrinking tax base to pay for it. So if you think things are bad now, let’s not go there.

It is important to keep an eye on what the drivers of prosperity are in our community. It’s also important to acknowledge what impedes that prosperity. There is a desire by some here to keep the city just like it was in the past. Those voices have an important message that we should all hear. After all, much of that small town charm is what attracted so many of us here. The prospect of losing that charm would be a loss felt by us all. At the same time, we also have a responsibility for planning for our future so that the heritage of those who have come before us is preserved and respected while also providing for the needs of today and tomorrow.

Fernandina Beach is a highly desirable place to live and raise a family. People will continue to come and that can’t be ignored. Planning for that growth to ensure that our small town charm is preserved is something that is crucial for our future and it takes people with vision and experience to help make that possible. Kicking the can down the road for future commissioners to deal with maintaining infrastructure causes heartburn for the community when dealing with delayed pruning of trees at the airport, deteriorating boardwalks to be rebuilt, storm drainage, old post office issues, ailing library, failing communication systems at city hall (the list just keeps growing) are all issues that didn’t spring up overnight. Unfortunately, with recurring low voter turnouts it doesn’t take a majority of registered voters to elect our representatives. It takes just a majority of the few who bother to vote to accomplish that, and just 3 of 5 commissioners to implement the desire of that minority. And right now, that’s where the political winds are blowing most effectively until voters turn out in larger numbers and take a greater interest in what’s happening at City Hall on a regular basis.

After considering whether this is the right time for me to begin a campaign for city commissioner I have decided to not run for office this year for several reasons. But for now I plan to continue to look for ways to be active in the city, helping to bring the community together, and enjoying my life in this wonderful community that has so much beauty, history and diversity, great people, and so much potential. That little boy on the bus is still watching the driver and wide-eyed for the adventure around the next corner.

Editor’s Note: Michael Spicer has degrees in Geology and Anthropology, has experience in the energy and insurance industries and is a veteran, a musician, world traveler, environmental fine art photographer, and registered independent. He lives in Fernandina Beach with his wife, artist and author, Carol Beck.

July 15, 2012 12:10 p.m.